Flamelurker

Flamelurker Information

Flamelurker is a Boss in Demon Souls.

"Since ancient times, a fire demon has been sealed in an underground temple filled with dragon bones."

Trapped deep inside the Stonefang Tunnel, the Flamelurker is a hulking humanoid demon completely covered with fire with powerful claws capable of emitting energy shockwaves. It can also leap for a very long distances to hit it's target with a double hand smash. It usually roars before it attacks and, when wounded, jumps back, leaving fiery footprints in front of him.

Location

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Drops

Combat Information

The Flamelurker is weak to magic! Fire magic has little effect, since he's flame resistant. The best two spells are Soul Arrow and Soul Ray. These will do significant damage and the fight will go much faster if the Ring of Magical Sharpness is equipped.

Strategies

Video Strategy

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Strategy

Melee

You don't need epic gear to defeat this guy, just the right tactics and gear setup.

In general, stay in front of him, it's much better to deal with Flamelurker face to face. Often after attacking or being hit he likes to jump backwards or to either side, so don't be caught off guard and stay in front. The only time you want to be behind him is when you have rolled under him and are attacking - to do this, see the below strategy:

Furious Fist strategy

You are aiming to be flame resistant and mobile - which means you can roll smoothly (and not with a clunk when you land). So - take one flame resistant shield, such as the Purple Flame Shield (if you don't have the strength for this, a shield with 70% fire reduction is possible but you'll be healing more), and a magical melee weapon - a perfect example are the Hands of God - which you can get right before the battle (you only need to equip one of them). It is a fist weapon and you'll need to get up close to attack, but for new players it might be your only option. Make sure you've got a Ring of Flame Resistance too. As for your armor, you can equip the Black Leather set, or whatever you can get away with before it affects your mobility. All of this gear you can obtain relatively easily.

As for the tactics, you need to be defensive the entire time - this means keeping your shield up and on the move constantly, avoiding his attacks whenever possible. You are only attacking him after his one move - pounce. When you see him starting to do a big jump, roll forward. You will roll under his jump and will end up behind him - leaving him open to an attack. You should be able to hit him 3 or 4 times with your Hands of God (or your preferred magical weapon). Don't deplete all your stamina on the attacks though, you may need to block soon after. You can use this tactic the entire battle, however…

As his health gets lower a few things will happen (as stated above):

He will become brighter with flames, making it a little harder to see what he's going to do next.

He becomes much more aggressive, often times relying more on his pounce attack than anything else.

His fireball AOE attacks get much larger, and his standard melee attack do more damage.

Dragon Spine Strategy

This strategy is a bit difficult to execute; came across it by complete accident. To the immediate left of the entrance to the Flamelurker's arena is a bit of dragon spine sticking out, walling off a little enclave. If lead properly, the Flamelurker can be coaxed to charge at you from the other side of this bit of spine. The catch is that he'll run endlessly into the spine, making no attempt to go around. A long sword, used in the proper place, can whack him from the other side. Then it's just a matter of taking a nimble step backwards to avoid his swipe, throw up your shield to block the brunt of his fire blast. Lather, rinse, repeat until dead. If he loses interest and starts to walk away, he should get caught on the end of the spine, and just walk in place. Peek around the corner for a quick swipe to get his attention in; or magic or arrows, if you were smart enough to remember to bring some.

Melee then Magic Method

Equip Ring of Flame Resistance and Purple Flame Shield and some sort of magic damage spell (ie. Soul Ray). Those are the essentials. Optional but makes the fight alot easier are the Regenerator's Ring (since you be taking mostly tick damage, this helps keep your health up) and a magic weapon. Best to use a weapon already permanently enchanted but if you want to micro manage, you can temporarily imbue a metal weapon if you like.

Always keep a lock. Continually circle (or roll back when the AOE attacks are coming if you're brave). Always keep your shield up. This is your life. With the ring and the shield up, none of his attacks can really hurt you. Drop the shield when safe to recharge stamina. Take opportunistic shots with the magic weapon when you get in a good position (usually after the non jumping non AOE swipe). Your attacks temp stun him usually so you can get a 2 or 3 hit combo, but watch the stamina since you may need to block. When he gets down below about 30% health. He really gets aggressive and does the AOE attack more often. This is when you switch the weapon in your right hand to the Catalyst of your choice and start lining up magic shots. This should finish him off relatively easily. Save the magic for last since it is harder to land a melee shot near the end of the battle.

Be in human form since you will get hit squarely a couple times. The key to this fight is defense and flame resistance. If you don't have the proper gear though, this strategy wont work.

Stealth strategy - solo 1:1

Equip the thief's ring and make sure to be wearing light armor. The pillars in this room are your best friend, if you keep the Flamelurker on the opposite side of the pillar from you, he will quickly lose track of your position and proceed to sit still and do nothing. Approach him from behind with your melee weapon two handed and attack a couple of times. Shield up, run away and hide. Repeat.

Light Weapon Strategy

This is best done in Body form, unless you have ~900HP in soul form. This method can successfully be used in NG++ 1:1

Cast Water Veil and Light Weapon and switch back to the Adjudicator's Shield as your left hand weapon. Switch up to using your melee weapon with two hands. Run towards him and be ready to dodge his melee attacks. Once you see an opening, rush him and relentlessly pound in some attacks ( eg. BBS w/ 600 ATK stat - two-handed = 500 DMG a hit w/ R1 and 700ish w/ R2). Now, it's just a simple matter of finding a rhythm and sticking to it. If extra time is required to heal then equip the Thiefs Ring.

If you stick to it and use the above mentioned spells/gear, he'll be down in no time. Flamelurker will = {Too Weak} (fans of the series will understand that :P).

Heavy weapon/stagger strategy

If you use a large enough weapon ( meat cleaver + sticky white stuff for instance ), he will stagger even with a light hit. If you have endurance, you can stagger him until he dies. When you are low on endurance move out circle and attack again.

Magic or bow

Run toward the rear of the area, and up the steps, where the hallway to Dragon God's level will eventually open. Facing back out into the main area, position yourself on the left side, almost against the back wall. If you can get him to follow you on that side (it might take a few attempts), he'll get stuck at the bottom of the steps just in front of you, and gallop in place for a while.

When you're both in place start firing. Use Soul Arrow, Soul Ray , Homing Soul Arrow or a bow (he is weak to Holy Arrows). After a while, he'll hop to your right, pause, then hop back to the left, and gallop in place again. Leave him alone while he's hopping and just shoot him when he's directly in front of you. Eventually, he'll stop that nonsense and charge you, so you'll have to run back out toward the entrance, but you can repeat the process once you've lured him away from the steps.

This method works great for the first play-through. In NG+, Flamelurker has more defense/life and will likely kill you with one hit. Desperation Strategy 3 - Easiest Ever (below) works much better in NG+.

Alternative Bow Strategy With Thief's Ring

At a generally low level it is possible to stand on the opposite side of the area where the Flamelurker is and fire 2-3 shots at him, then when he hops back and forth to dodge get ready to run away diagonally and then around him in a large arch so to avoid attacks and not have to roll. After he stops his 2nd lunge which he will commonly do, sprint with your remaining stamina to the other side of the area. With the Thief's Ring equipped, about 1/2 the distance of the area your in, will make the Flamelurker stop chasing you with attacks, and from there you may manually aim and snipe him about 2-3 times. Using this method took about 50 or less arrows with a Compound Long Bow +1 or +2.

Poison Cloud Strategy

Since this does slow damage over time, it's best used if you get him stuck somewhere for a while or in combination with a stealth strategy. If you are using stealth, manoevre yourself completely behind him and repeatedly cast Poison Cloud. He will never move or attack. Cast Soul Thirst and use the Ring of Avarice to maximize souls, since you don't need a defense ring. Use the Thief's Ring, and if you have it Cloak to get past him while hugging the right wall until completely behind him.

Soul Ray & Water Veil Combo

This is more of an head on way to fight Flamelurker, make sure to have both these spells at the ready. When you enter the fog cast Water Veil asap, then start a barrage of Soul Ray, backing away or moving in a counter or clockwise motion. If he does lunge at you, roll backwards. You will take very little damage with this method and the battle should be won in a few mins. Avoid getting snagged on the furniture and time your Water Veil re-cast carefully or you will regret it.Note: Using Warding is not helpful, as Flamelurker does purely fire damage. Warding provides no protection against fire.

Glitch method (bow)

Make sure you have the Thief's Ring equipped. If you want to finish the fight quickly, bring along some Holy Arrows (around fifty should be more than enough). When you enter the fog door, you'll notice a ribcage to your right and a spine to your left. First, head to the ribcage.

Fire an arrow at Flamelurker to get his attention and when he starts moving in your direction, quickly sprint away from the ribcage and run around behind the spine, putting it between you and Flamelurker. Back yourself into the corner and make sure you keep Flamerlurker's attention by either firing another arrow at him over the spine or hitting him with magic. At this point, he should start charging at you or spamming his attacks.

His pathfinding ability is terrible, so he shouldn't be able to reach you. As long as you make sure you stay in the corner, none of his attacks should hit you. At this point, you can just pelt him with your ranged attack of choice. It's possible to take him down with a basic bow and about 30 holy arrows this way.

Note: This will not work on North American versions. The pathfinding was corrected and Flamelurker will find a way around to kill you !Note: If you adapt this strategy by luring him behind the spine and immediately sprinting back to the ribcage, he seems to get stuck, allowing you to freely pelt his face with arrows.

Glitch method (soul arrow)

Make sure you have the Thief's Ring equipped for the duration of the fight. For those not wearing bow or crossbow it might be difficult to hit him with soul arrow when behind the spine. Lure Flamelurker behind the spine and roll or dodge out and around the rib cage and move away until Flamelurker loses sight of you, and is still stuck behind the ribcage. Approach while keeping the spine between you and Flamelurker and search for an opening where you can shoot through and hit Flamelurker. It is doubtful you can lock on to him, but you should be able to set up and fire without lock on and hit him. He may jump to the side, but don't panic, just stop firing and he should jump back. Just keep repeating the process until he dies.

Glitch Method - Rock trap

As soon as you enter the room instantly start sprinting past the Flamelurker towards the opposite fog gate, with luck he will delay himself and use an area blast. if you are facing the fog gate run directly up to it and to the left behind some rocks (Note, hug the stair wall once behind the rocks), if you positioned the Flamelurker correctly he should start sprinting towards you and about halfway up the stairs he will get stuck on the fallen rocks, this is a pocket for him so when his AI tells him to run around it he will just lock himself in eternal running against one of the rocks.

From here you can wail on him with whatever you'd like as long as you attack and then immediately roll back. His AI will every now and then tell him to jump back away from you and then to 100% of the time jump to his left and then back to his right landing him in the exact same place as when he jumped back. At this point it is important to run up onto the slanted block you've been using to attack him off of. If done correctly he will run right back into the pocket (it is rather hard to mess this part up as his AI is initially to run directly at you).

Using this method will make this boss almost impossible to lose as you will receive no damage as long as you jump back. The only down side is that you can only get in one or two melee attacks before he attacks you so this method will take a while but it is worth it because you will receive no damage and if you bring a magic weapon (Large Sword of Moonlight for instance) then this method will be all that much quicker. If you can get it and have the ability to use it, bring the Istarelleand the Purple Flame Shield so you don't have to always roll back and just take whatever he dishes out at you.

Attacks

Swipe

He always does a swipe right before or after a 1-handed fire blast. Dive at him and just as he goes to swing at you, R1, then dive back out, just in case he tries to follow it with a fireball. When his health drops to a certain level, he will occasionally swipe twice with each hand and deal a massive fire blast attack.

Fire blast

He will often cast a AoE fire blast from his hand by smashing it down on the ground. It damages who ever is caught in the blast.(Needs confirmation) Standing behind him(or at a proximity behind him) while he casts this may allow you to completely avoid this, even if it seems you are caught in the blast.

Pounce

His second melee attack is the pounce. He telegraphs this by growling loudly, crouching down and putting both hands down on the ground. Pay attention to his hands. Growling with arms down means a pounce. You can dodge this by diving straight at him (you'll roll under the pounce). Immediately after a pounce is a good time to get in a few shots, just don't deplete your stamina fully.

Massive fire blast attack

Again, pay attention to the hands, if he's growling with both arms up over his head, that means he's about to do his massive fire blast attack. If you dive at him, you will be in the middle of the explosion one second and back at the armoured spider archstone the next…

The 1-handed plus shield evasion approach is easiest. Just lock-on, hold L1 and continuously walk backwards. If you're hit by the Area of Effect (AoE) from his attack, it will just be the edge of the explosion. With an upgraded PFS, 90% of fire damage is re-buffed and with the decent hitres and plenty of stamina, you should take very minimal damage and rarely be stunned. After a fire blast just run or dive in and give him a few smacks. Keep in mind that he usually follows one-handed fire blasts with a standard melee attack, so it's better to dive in to dodge that.

Flamelurker likes to repeatedly do his AOE attack against you if he gets the chance. If he manages to pin you down with a series of these attacks (more likely when he's low on life), and you're getting low on stamina, there's just enough time between those explosions to gain back a bit of stamina by lowering your shield, and then raising it again just in time for the next explosion. Doing this while getting yourself into a better position can save your life, as you can keep getting enough stamina back to avoid being staggered.

When he starts getting angrier and those fireballs are larger and more frequent, a regular roll back won't put enough space between you and him, and you won't have enough time for two dives.

Sprinting into his fireball attacks can be effective, but difficult to time correctly. This is best performed with target lock disengaged. Sprint straight at him from the beginning, just reaching the edge of aggro range. As he sees you coming, he will wind up a fireball or melee attack. Don't stop running, just change direction slightly and make a tight u-turn so that you can seamlessly turn around and position yourself for attack. This technique uses much less stamina than diving or blocking and is much quicker. Practice at the beginning of the fight, while he's still a little docile, to get a feel for the technique. Be prepared to die a lot before perfecting it.

Once you get your timing down(with a relatively quick weapon) you can sprint in, sprint out to avoid the fireball, sprint back in as the dust settles, get in a running R1, dive forward to avoid a melee strike, R1 again then sprint back out. and still have a little stamina left in case you need to emergency dive or just keep sprinting away. Wait for the stamina bar to refresh and do it again. The fight gets a lot easier when he starts pouncing alot, just roll under him, turn around hit him with a combo then run back out to avoid the possible fireball.

Notes & Trivia

He is easy to read for the most part, and a single roll straight back will enable you to dodge his attack completely. Do not roll sideways to avoid attacks as he'll usually strike you. The flames surrounding him will damage you when you attack at close range, similar to the Fire Lizard earlier in Stonefang.

Try and have as much space behind you as possible to dodge most of his attack, having space left or right of you is also good practice to run if you don't have space behind you. Also try to avoid the stairs leading to the next fog gate, the ares behind the pillars and the dragon rib cages on either side of the room.

Most normal melee attacks will do minimal damage, unless you buff with something like Sticky White Stuff.

The dude's made of flame! Touching him will hurt, a lot. Although under most circumstances you won't be able to touch him.

Note that the pools of lava on the floor are, in fact, lava. Although they deal very little damage, avoid standing in them or walking through them when able.

Note that as his health drops, he becomes more and more aggressive, and will rush at you more often and attack constantly. His attacks also deal more damage and break guards more easily.

If you're struggling, summoning one or two people can be helpful of course. Three people casting magic will almost completely incapacitate him.